Portfolio news .

Abingdon Health plc (AIM: ABDX), a leading international developer and manufacturer of high quality and effective rapid tests, announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2021.

Operational Highlights (including post-period):

• CE-marking for professional use of AbC-19™ Semi-Q Rapid Test, which produces semi-quantitative results via a line intensity scorecard;
• AppDx® smartphone app solution for lateral flow tests reached critical technical performance milestone, an additional UK patent has been granted for the AppDx® technology and is now ready for commercial launch;
• Two contract service opportunities secured to date in 2022 - in fertility testing and environmental monitoring;
• The transfer of the Vatic Health Ltd ("Vatic") antigen test into manufacturing is progressing as planned. Three technical transfer batches have been completed which adhere to specification with the final batch to be shipped to Vatic at the end of March according to plan.  Initial production orders have been received and manufacturing will commence following technical transfer. Vatic submitted its FDA Emergency Use Authorisation ("EUA") in March 2022;
• As announced in an RNS Reach today , DeepVerge plc ("DeepVerge") and Abingdon have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") for a commercial agreement for the development, manufacture and commercialisation of lateral flow tests for DeepVerge's Modern Water and Life Science divisions;
• As announced in an RNS Reach today , Vatic and Abingdon have signed an MoU for a commercial agreement for the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of lateral flow self-tests in the area of infectious diseases with an initial focus on influenza; and
• Strong pipeline of other technical transfer opportunities, highlighting benefits of integrating our lateral flow contract development and manufacturing proposition.

 

Financial Highlights:

• Revenue decreased to £1.7m (2020: £7.7m), predominantly due to no DHSC being recognised in the period, as well as other COVID-19 non-recurring revenues falling;
• Like-for-like Contract Manufacturing revenue (excluding COVID-19 related contracts) decreased by 15.2% to £1.0m (2020: £1.2m);
• Like-for-like Contract Development revenue increased by 27.6% to £0.9m (2020: £0.7m);
• Gross profit margin adjusted for stock provisions was 25.4% (2020 40.1%), main impact on margin being labour under-recoveries with the changing cost base of the business on lower turnover; and
• Adjusted¹ Operating loss of £4.8m (2020: Adjusted² Operating loss of £0.1m);
• Non-binding terms of a settlement with DHSC were agreed on 9 November 2021. The Company awaits conclusion of this matter and payment of money owed, totalling £8.45m of unpaid invoices; and
• Fundraise of £6.5m gross and £6.1m net of fees in December 2021 to support working capital and new product developments in the market segments of infectious disease for flu testing, Lyme disease and hepatitis C.

¹  adjusted for amortization, depreciation, share based payment expense and non-recurring legal fees

²  adjusted for amortization, depreciation, share based payment expense and listing costs

Chris Yates, CEO at Abingdon Health plc, commented:

"Our focus remains on providing our customers with a first-class lateral flow contract development and manufacturing service. We have invested significantly in our operational infrastructure over the past 18 months and more importantly we have advanced our technical capability in developing, transferring and manufacturing lateral flow tests across an increasingly diverse range of use cases. I believe this is evidenced by the positive progress, and customer feedback we have received, in the scale-up to manufacture of recent tests, including Vatic, and I am proud of our people for the commitment and team effort they have shown in achieving these.

"We believe we are uniquely positioned in Europe to provide prospective customers with an efficient and expert technical transfer service to transition their lateral flow products into manufacture. With supply chain challenges remaining a major issue for many of our prospective customers, we are seeing significant interest in on-shoring and outsourcing lateral flow test manufacture as the international landscape for sourcing of these tests becomes more uncertain in these changing times. In addition, the diverse market and applications for lateral flow testing continues to grow and we are increasingly focused on a broader range of opportunities across clinical (including COVID-19), animal health, environmental and plant pathogen testing, giving us confidence that our strategy will drive future revenue growth."

 

For further information, please contact:

Abingdon Health plc	www.abingdonhealth.com/investors/
Chris Yates,Chief Executive Officer Melanie Ross, Chief Financial Officer Chris Hand,Non-Executive Chairman	Via Walbrook PR
Singer Capital Markets (Sole Broker and Nominated Adviser)	Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3000
Shaun Dobson, Peter Steel, Alex Bond (Corporate Finance) Tom Salvesen (Corporate Broking)
Walbrook PR Limited	Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or[email protected]
Paul McManus / Lianne Applegarth Phil Marriage	Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 893 / +44 (0)7584 391 303+44 (0)7867 984 082